To the editor:

I would like to comment on the issues around the Kansas University-Missouri University rivalry. The rivalry itself has proven to be an ongoing healthy and entertaining event for players and fans for many years. The problem is not the rivalry itself, but it is more about something missing from the core of the MU athletes.

MU has repeatedly groomed players to perform at the edge of accepted actions and they excel in cleverly adding the extra elbow or knee shot at every possible opportunity. While some technical fouls have been caught and penalized, the majority of them have gone unmentioned in formal gatherings.

I worked in Jefferson City, Mo., for several years, so I was able to hear the behind-the-scene attitudes of Missouri faithful first-hand. I remember the abuse that KU’s Jerod Haase professionally endured a few years ago, so blatant a slashing from MU’s Jason Sutherland that even the Missouri fans were embarrassed. But they all qualified it by saying it is all part of the rivalry.

I disagree.

I think the ongoing poor sportsmanship displayed by Missouri’s basketball team needs to be addressed and corrected. It obviously goes beyond the coach since that has changed recently but the caliber of play hasn’t.

It is unfortunate that the KU women’s basketball team has gotten sucked into this craziness, but MU fans have always acted like children at recess, yelling obscenities at KU’s band, players and fans. Looking at their record I believe we are seeing in action the old saying “what goes around comes around.”

Bill Ingram,

Lawrence